When shopping or dining at the HarborWalk Village, The Village of Baytowne Wharf, or even The Boardwalk on Okaloosa Island, you may have noticed a line item on your receipt reading, "village fee," or "resort fee."
After coming across some internet chatter on these fees, The Log reached out to the businesses to find out what the fees are and what the monies collected are used for.
“It’s 100 percent marketing,” said Bruce Craul, the general manager of the Emerald Grande which hosts the HarborWalk Village vendors. “Marketing is a big word but it encompasses our advertising, promotions, entertainment, fireworks; all that it takes to have our Fat Tuesday parades; that’s what it’s used for, it’s that simple.”
Craul detailed that using the 2 percent village fee, the HarborWalk Village is able to host weekly fireworks, concerts, and special events from Memorial Day to Labor day, and offer seasonal events year-round.
“All of those fees are there to promote and entertain our visitors that come here and are looking for something to do particularly at night after the sun goes down,” he said. “The Rock the Docks, the local hero night, our strolling minstrels, our mime, jugglers, fire throwers; that’s how they get paid. It’s all generated solely by the village fee.”
Without this village fee, Craul said there would be no way to foot the bill for all of the free events the resort hosts.
“We actually end up spending more than we collect,” Craul said. “It takes more; it just takes more. We don’t get reimbursed for that, it’s just the cost of doing business.”
The HarborWalk Village charges a 2 percent fee from any vendor on it’s grounds, be it a harbor-side kiosk or charter boat booking, to a restaurant or a shop, but Craul said if a customer does not want to pay the fee, they have the right to refuse.
“It says right on the ticket that if you don’t want to pay it we will take it off,” said Craul. “It’s not a tax, it’s a marketing fee. The money comes in, and 100 percent of the money comes out. We supply to all of our tenants a list of all the money that comes in and all that goes out; Everybody benefits from it.”
Representatives from The Village of Baytowne Wharf and the Boardwalk on Okaloosa Island did not return calls for comment.